


Reaperversary

by BaronVonChop



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Post-Destruction Ending, Sharing a Meal, Shepard and her crew are a family, Shepard survived ME3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-23
Updated: 2014-02-23
Packaged: 2018-01-13 13:05:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1227457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BaronVonChop/pseuds/BaronVonChop
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five years after destroying the Reapers, Shepard organizes a reunion with her crew.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reaperversary

The first anniversary of the end of the Reaper War was a big celebration, with a parade and speeches. Shepard wore her dress uniform and prepared a speech to praise how the various species of the galaxy had banded together, to commemorate the many who had fallen, and to encourage those who were working to rebuild. At a separate, military event, she spoke at a memorial for Anderson, and the picture of Shepard looking into the sunset, with a poignant look on her face, became iconic and came to represent the veterans of the war.

For all its size and spectacle, the first anniversary celebration was limited to the Sol system. While the Mass Relays were still being rebuilt, it was impossible for anyone from outside the system to come to Earth, meaning that Shepard’s squadmates all missed the spectacle.

Shepard had exchanged a few subspace messages with her crew, so she knew that they were all right. The connection had been weak and it had taken several tries to get any coherent message across, and it took even longer to assure her crew that she was receiving good care and recovering from her injuries.

The crew managed to record a greeting in time for the anniversary festivities, though it became mostly known for the version that circulated where a fan had added retuned the voices and added music to make the crew sing a song about defeating Reapers.

Months passed and Shepard slowly recovered. Even while she was still undergoing physical therapy, she helped organize the campaign to destroy the last remaining Cerberus cells. When she was released from the hospital, she was made humanity’s representative on the Citadel Council, though the Citadel itself was still undergoing repairs.

Shepard worked closely with representatives of the various Citadel forces who had come to Earth for the final push against the Reapers. Since the armies were stranded in the Sol system until the Mass Relays were fixed, tensions ran high. Shepard helped work out disputes and ensured that each group was treated fairly. She made a special point of procuring dextro food for the quarians and turians in the Sol system, rationing and prioritizing food growth in the remaining quarian homeships.

Over the next few years, as the Mass Effect relays were repaired, Shepard met with each of her squad members. They came and went, checking on her and catching up on what they had missed before returning to their homes and people. There was so much to do, and Mass Relay travel was still limited, so there was no single moment in which all of the old squad was back together.

Finally, as the fifth anniversary of the Reaper War approached, the Citadel races put forth a concerted effort to finalize the repairs of the Mass Relays in time for a huge celebration on the newly reopened Citadel.

A few months before the anniversary, Shepard received a Holonet message from Tali. Tali suggested that, since they would all be busy with official duties during the actual celebration, the group should get together for a more personal celebration before the big event. It would give them a chance to relax and talk before they had to face the cameras and the crowds.

Shepard sent out invitations to each of the squad members and waited to hear back. She knew that not everyone would be able to make it, and sure enough, she heard back from an Alliance general that Jacob and Miranda were on an undercover mission and could not receive communications, and they would not be able to attend. Shepard heard back from Kaidan that he was feeling under the weather, and Liara was attending a conference but assured Shepard that she would be there in time for the official festivities.

Shepard hadn’t set an official date for the get-together, knowing that travel was still hard to plan in advance. There was plenty of room in her section of the Citadel, though, as it was still not officially open for citizens to move in. Therefore, as people started to arrive, they simply settled into apartments near Shepard’s.

Tali was the first to arrive. Her status as an admiral in the quarian fleet meant that she did not have to go on a waiting list before using Mass Relays. Because she was the first to join Shepard before the activities, Tali spent the first few days dragging Shepard around the shops, most of which weren’t officially open yet, and buying things for the get-together, or just things Tali thought Shepard needed. Since the Reaper War had ended, Shepard had always felt a little awkward about her status as a hero, but Tali never hesitate to exploit her fame (and Shepard’s) to get into stores, and then, to Shepard’s extreme embarrassment, to wrangle deals out of the star-struck workers.

By the time Garrus arrived, Tali had moved in to her temporary apartment next to Shepard’s so thoroughly that she owned more food and furniture than Shepard did, and yet she still spent most of her time at Shepard’s apartment, watching Shepard’s (new) widescreen TV and eating her (mostly dextro) snacks.

When Garrus arrived, he was in a reflective mood, and spent a quiet evening sitting with Shepard, drinking carefully labeled beers and talking about the things they had experienced and the comrades left behind.

When Tali, who had made a copy of Shepard’s keys, caught Shepard and Garrus sitting with warm beers in their hands and staring off into the sunset, she protested that Garrus was depressing Shepard, and she took them both to a newly reopened Castle Arcade. They spent the rest of the night going around setting all the high scores on the various games, since nobody had played them before.

Zaeed and Dr. Chakwas arrived together, though they both went different ways after landing, with Zaeed going off to bluster with Garrus while Dr. Chakwas took Shepard and Tali to a fancy restaurant and an art gallery that was mostly empty, since the majority of the artwork had not been installed yet. When Tali began to speculate about why Dr. Chakwas had arrived with Zaeed, the doctor immediately changed the subject by asking Shepard about how the cybernetics Cerberus had installed in Shepard were holding up since the destruction of the Citadel.

Shepard couldn’t be sure, but had a suspicion that Tali spent the rest of the evening waggling her eyebrows (if she had any) at Shepard while attempting to bring the conversation back to the subject of Zaeed.

Samara settled into her apartment before contacting Shepard and arranging a meeting. The two of them ordered takeout and ate it on a rooftop, observing some workers across the street installing electronic billboards outside a shopping center. They talked very little, letting the silences settle comfortably between their accounts of what they had been doing. Samara had set aside the justicar lifestyle, though it seemed like she received more respect than ever from other asari. She had spent the past few years helping with the restoration of Thessia. A more private project had been the rebuilding of the Ardat-Yakshi monastery on Lessus. While in the past Samara would have hunted down Ardat-Yakshi, she now visited them peacefully and persuaded them to go to the temple. To Shepard’s surprise, all of them, no matter how bloodthirsty their reputations, had agreed to go.

When Samara joined the others for dinner that day, Shepard expected her to be stiff and formal. Instead, Samara was relaxed and friendly, making several jokes throughout the night and visibly enjoying the company of her friends. After a few drinks, Zaeed made an off-color remark about the asari commando training process, and everyone tensed for a moment before Samara burst into laughter, though Shepard thought she saw Dr. Chakwas roll her eyes at Zaeed and kick him under the table.

Shepard went to get a midnight snack of leftovers that night and found that half a chicken and a container of roasted vegetables had mysteriously disappeared. When Kasumi made a big show of arriving in the Citadel the next day, Shepard played along and welcomed her, while wondering how long Kasumi had already been there, and whether she was responsible for some of Garrus’, Shepard’s, and Tali’s high scores at the Castle Arcade being beaten by someone who signed her name “Magi Took Us.”

Joker and EDI arrived, and almost immediately started bickering about where they should go for dinner. When Shepard asked discretely whether everything was all right, EDI and Joker both beamed at her with true delight. EDI explained that Joker had been showing her how to squabble like a human couple to make their relationship more exciting.

A few minutes later, Vega and Cortez entered, and they could not figure out why everyone started laughing when the two of them started to argue about where to go for dinner.

As the anniversary date began to draw near, Shepard was starting to worry that Wrex would not be able to make it. She was relieved when Wrex turned up, though he looked distracted. When Shepard finally got him to stop pacing her apartment, he admitted that Bakara had talked him into raising their kids together. Wrex had lots of children now, of course, with many krogan females, and he was more than happy to let the females take the task of raising the little monsters. But when it came to Bakara’s children, Wrex had let himself get talked into taking on half the responsibilities. Even when Wrex insisted that the headache almost made him regret the genophage cure, Shepard saw the glint in his eye and heard the pride in his voice as he described how destructive his brood were turning out to be.

When Garrus, Zaeed, and Vega invited Wrex to the Armax Arena to shoot some virtual Reapers for old times’ sake, Wrex refused to leave his comfortable chair, explaining that no brute or banshee could provide a challenge after wrestling with a dozen tiny, hard-headed krogan every day at bedtime.

In fact, Wrex spent most of the next day snoozing in his chair, occasionally yawning hugely and commenting to whoever was around about how nice it was to have Bakara watching the kids. Shepard wondered what could make Wrex leave his chair, since she was starting to worry about how much the frame was starting to sag, when Wrex lept out of the chair with a shout of surprise. Bakara stood in the doorway, and though most of her face was hidden, her eyes were clearly smiling.

Bakara calmed Wrex down by explaining that Grunt was watching the kids while Bakara visited Shepard. Tali, Garrus, EDI, Joker, Vega, Cortez, and Dr. Chakwas were glad to see Bakara again, and Zaeed, Kasumi, and Samara introduced themselves. Zaeed started to say something about the growing krogan numbers, but his sentence changed tracks when Dr. Chakwas cleared her throat from across the room.

The Alliance had already left several messages on Shepard’s phone that she was needed to run through some rehearsals for the various speeches, ceremonies, and parades, so Shepard decided to throw a big dinner for everyone. Shepard spent most of the next day cooking food, though she didn’t mind because she had a lot of help from Dr. Chakwas, Samara, Cortez, and Zaeed. Kasumi also turned up from time to time to snag a choice morsel hot out of the oven.

That night, Shepard’s apartment was a joyful cacophony of people eating, talking, and in several cases doing both at the same time. Everyone passed the dishes back and forth, piling their plates high with steaming hot food.

Tali and Garrus, neither particularly inclined to cooking, ordered a delivery of quarian cuisine from a gourmet quarian restaurant that had recently settled into the Citadel to serve the incoming, permanent quarian population. Garrus was soon questioning the decision, as quarian food turned out to be a lot spicier than the much simpler turian food Garrus was used to. Joker had EDI manage his plate for him, as he insisted he would be injured if he tried to join in the melee of plate-passing. Twice Samara averted near-disaster as she used her biotics to catch a plate that was dangerously close to tipping. Zaeed and Dr. Chakwas made sure that everyone’s glass stayed full throughout the night, as between the two of them they produced a small fortune in rare wines and spirits.

When the first course was almost gone, nobody was ready for the night to end, so several people made delivery orders for more food to be brought. When the door chimed, Shepard got up to let in the first delivery, and was surprised to see Grunt standing at the door. Shepard barely stammered out a few words before both Wrex and Bakara were at the door, asking if anything was wrong with the kids.

Grunt quickly explained that everything was fine, and he had come to join the party. When Bakara and Wrex, speaking over each other, both asked where their kids were, Grunt sheepishly stepped aside, and Shepard, Wrex, and Bakara were nearly bowled over by a stampede of small, round krogan.

Wrex and Bakara struggled to extricate themselves and each other from the various embraces and/or wrestling moves of their children, while at the same time trying valiantly to introduce Shepard and the others to the kids, who weren’t making things easier by constantly moving around so that their parents had trouble keeping track of who had already been introduced. The only thing that helped turn the tide was when the kids noticed the food on the table. They made short work of the remaining food and some of the dishes as well. Fortunately, Garrus and Tali had already finished the dextro food.

Just in time, the deliveries started arriving, and soon the krogan kids had enough food in them to settle down a bit.

Everyone slowed the pace of their eating, nibbling on the food to make it last longer while reliving happy memories and remembering those who weren’t there to join them. Then, one by one or in pairs, people started to head out. Cortez nearly had to carry Vega, who was half-drunk and half-asleep but insisting that Shepard was the greatest hero in the history of the galaxy, and that it had been an honor, the highest honor, to serve with her. Samara thanked everyone for a lovely evening and excused herself. Joker insisted that he and EDI would hit a club before turning in for the night, but Shepard could tell from the way he was leaning on EDI that he was going home to bed. Kasumi disappeared at some point, along with the best leftovers. Zaeed and Dr. Chakwas, both somewhat tipsy, left while arguing over whether they should go to a bar first before going back to their place (though Shepard couldn’t tell who was arguing which side). Bakara escorted the little krogan out, with the help of Grunt.

Shepard found herself left with Wrex, Tali, and Garrus. They all agreed that it was amazing that they had all survived the Reaper War, and they commented on how strange it was to be seen as the heroes of the galaxy. Mostly they sat in silence and enjoyed being together, in the company of the people they had trusted with their lives again and again, the people who had gotten them through.

Wrex, Tali, and Garrus ended up staying the night at Shepard’s. Shepard dragged together some couches and chairs and the four of them fell asleep in the same room, knowing for once that there would be nothing to interrupt them until morning came.


End file.
